Breathing assistance improvements

ABSTRACT

Assistance for breathing is provided for both humans and animals by providing for a member to adhere along only one or separately both sides of a nose and having a shape so that a part of the member can adhere over a bone of the nose and then in cantilever fashion adhere to and thereby support soft flesh forming an outer side of a nasal passage so as to keep this open even with heavy breathing.

This is a divisional applicaton Ser. No. 09/155,793 filed Oct. 5, 1998,now U.S. Pat. No. 6,228,101.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a method and means to assist breathing forboth humans and some animals.

2. Discussion of Prior Art

The problem to which this invention is directed is the same problem asthat set out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,499 which is directed to a nasaldilator which assists in resisting the drawing together of outer walltissue of the nasal passage during breathing.

It is known that air passing through a nasal passage will, especiallywhere that passage is other than circular, cause a drawing together ofthe closer walls through a bernoulli effect. This implicitly causes afurther narrowing of the passageway. This effect is known to occur withmany people. The result is that they may suffer sufficiently substantialrestriction in passage cross sectional area that they can be forced tobreathe additionally through their mouth or suffer effects such assnoring and even sleep apnoea. In other cases athletes can have theirbreathing restricted by this effect so limiting their performance.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,499 proposes a flexible strip which traverses fromone side of the nose across the bridge of the nose to the other side andso that one end adheres to the skin adjacent one nasal passage andanother end adheres to the skin adjacent the other nasal passage. Theflexible strip has two resilient bands these being chosen so that theynaturally spring apart and drag the skin and therefore the outer walltissue outwardly to keep the respective passages more open.

An alternative system has a bifurcate arrangement which has respectivelegs in the respective nostrils and by, again, a natural springingapart, keeps the outer walls of the nose outwardly distended but from aninside of the nasal passageway.

I have found that the existing methods have disadvantages which can bereduced.

One of these is that the flexible strip traversing the bridge of thenose will be implicitly visible and many are concerned by the appearanceof this when being worn.

Further, the application of such a device will generally result in acontinuous pulling pressure being applied so that the soft flesh of thenose will be under this continuous force. This can result over time inlack of comfort and possibly pain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of this invention is to provide the public with a usefulalternative.

According to one form of this invention there is provided an arrangementfor assisting breathing wherein there is a member adhering to theexternal surface of one side only of a nose, the member extending alonga side of the nose in a position so that the member is positioned tohave a first part of the member adhering to the skin of the noseadjacent a bony structure located at a back of the nose, and the memberhas a further part which is closer to an inlet of the nostril of thenose than the first said part and adhering to the skin of the noseadjacent a soft part of the nose, with the member being shaped andotherwise being characterised so as to hold the soft part of the noseoutwardly.

In preference the arrangement is further characterised in that there aretwo said members adhering to a nose with one member on a first one sideof the nose of a wearer and the other member on a second opposite sideof the nose of a wearer.

In preference as one alternative the nose is the nose of a person.

In preference as a further alternative the nose is the nose of a horse.

In preference as a further alternative again the nose is the nose of adog.

In preference each member is in the form of a strip with a first sheetof material having an outermost face having thereon a pressureresponsive adhesive adapted to maintain a selected shape of the softtissue.

In preference there is an arrangement for assisting breathing wherein amember has a part at a first end attached by adhesion to skinimmediately adjacent bone toward a back of the nose of a user and a partat an opposite end of the member is attached by adhesion to the skinimmediately above a portion of the nose toward a front of the nose whichis soft flesh adjacent the nostril, and the member is shaped andpositioned so as to effect a pulling outwardly of the flesh adjacent thenostril.

In preference the member is comprised of a laminate of a first pliablesheet with an outer surface coated by adhesive shaped and otherwisecharactised to be located along a side of a nose, and a second pliablesheet holding a strut between itself and the first sheet.

In a further preferred arrangement there is an arrangement for assistingbreathing by being attachable by adhesion along one side of a nose toeffect a maintaining of dilation to a nasal passage of the nosecharacterised in that the member is of elongate shape and is curved soas to have a face defining a convex shape and a contact adhesive beingonly on the convex side.

In a further preferred arrangement there is an arrangement for assistingbreathing by being attachable by adhesion along one side of a nose toeffect a dilation force of a nasal passage characterised in that themember is a laminate comprised of a first pliable sheet with an outersurface coated by adhesive, a strut, and a second pliable sheet holdingthe strut between itself and the first sheet, the member being ofelongate shape and is curved so as to have a side following a convexpath and a contact adhesive being only on the convex side.

In preference for horses the angle is approximately 30 degrees.

In preference the strut is comprised of aluminium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

For a better understanding of this invention it will now be describedwith reference to preferred embodiments which shall be described withthe assistance of drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a person with the arrangement according to thefirst embodiment fitted to both sides of their nose;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the same embodiment installed in place on theside of the nose;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the components making up the element ofthe first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the element of the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a side perspective view of a horse incorporating the inventionaccording to a second embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the element according to the second embodiment;and

FIG. 7 is a side cross sectional view of the second embodiment as shownin preceding FIGS. 5 and 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Now describing the embodiments and referring to the drawings in detail amember 1 in the form of a strip and comprised of a first sheet 2 havingon an underneath side an adhesive chosen to enable contact pressurebetween the adhesive and the skin of a nose to ensure that adhesion willoccur with sufficient strength upon an applied pressure between the twosurfaces to then enable the member to act to pull or hold relevant skinof the nose and its underlying soft tissue in or into a dilationposition.

The structure of a human nose is such that there is a hard part which isbone that starts about half way up or toward a back of the nose whichbone is a part of the skull of the person. What is being achieved inaccord with this invention is that this hard or bone part which isunderlying flesh and skin to which the first end is adhered to which isshown to be further from the nostril of the nose than a dotted line at 3and is used to support a part at a first end of the strip 1. Thisportion of the nose is referred to as the rigid fleshy portion. This, asin the manner of a cantilever, can be used to “anchor” the one end ofthe strip 1 so that it can be used to locate and support in anappropriate position the part of the strip 1 at an opposite end of thestrip (which is to say toward the part of a nose further down the faceor toward an outer end of the nostril) so as to hold soft tissue of theside of the nose in an outwardly dilated position. The outer or forwardposition of the nose is the vestibule, and the ostium internum islocated between the vestibule and the rigid fleshy portion. Both thevestibule and the ostium internum comprise the soft fleshy portion ofthe nose.

This is achieved by having the shape of the member defined by a strut 4which is a thin strip of aluminium which is sandwiched between the sheet2 and a top sheet 5 and has a shape that is elongated, and has a part atone end 6 approximately straight, and another part at an opposite end 7approximately straight and these two parts 6 and 7 at respectiveopposite ends 9 and 10 are at an angle of approximately 60 degrees(shown at 8) one to the other.

The strut 4 is chosen from aluminium of 0.3 mm thickness and of a gradesuch that it is pliable and therefore can be changed in shape simply byusing finger pressures but not so soft or pliable that when in positionof holding a dilation position of the tissue of the nose that it willunduly distort and therefore not achieve sufficiently the resultrequired. This can be readily tested for any user by simple trial anderror. Aluminium sheet of this thickness of 0.3 mm as supplied from amanufacturer in Australia has been used satisfactorily both in ahardened state as supplied and also in a softened state by heating thehardened sheet for a period of several hours. Both materials performedadequately showing that a range of grades of materials and quality ofmaterials will be useful.

Other materials can be used but aluminium sheet has been found to bemost suitable. One of the characteristics that is useful is the factthat the aluminium apart from being pliable and therefore being able tobe shaped by a user for comfort, is also resilient so that when deformedinto a position by the user the aluminium can be resiliently deformedfurther. This can assist in applying further continuing tension adjacenta narrow part of the nasal passage. As a guide to the extent ofresiliency that has been found to be useful the strut material in theembodiment having the dimensions of 15 mm×3 mm×0.3 mm if anchored at oneend so as to be supported as a cantilever from 1 mm of anchored end then30 grams will deflect the outer end by 3 mms. These dimensions are alsothe dimensions of the strut when bent as described that are mostappropriate for use by adult humans for the invention. As a guide to thesize range of a strut for adult humans the strut can be most usefullywithin the range of from 12-15 mm in length and 2.5-3.5 mm in width.

One of the advantages of the embodiment is that in use an effect of thestrip is to act as a splint so that pressures or more correctly tensionsapplied will be contributed to by the natural springiness of the fleshto which the strip is attached. This means that, as the act of placingthe strip in position means that one will distort the flesh to have thisadhere to the relative positions of the parts of the strip, this willmean that the flesh will be held from returning to an original positionby the splint effect of the strip. This compares with a strip thatbridges the nose which in a commercial production situation needs to beof a size to apply to all manner of sizes and shapes of noses.Accordingly this needs to be able to spring apart substantially andtherefore the result is that this will have a tendency to apply constanttension over a substantial range of movement. It is this that over timecan become quite uncomfortable.

By having an arrangement that will have a reference position that isimmediately adjacent (this is the bone) the position of the appliedtension means that this will implicitly provide a predominately positionreference as compared to a maintained tension. The result provides morecomfort for a user.

The bend in the strut 4 is located just adjacent to where a hard part(the bone) beneath or adjacent the soft tissue of the nose begins. Ifthis is located fully on the hard part of the nose then it is found thatsoreness can develop after only some few hours of use because there willbe a continuous pressure point at the bend.

The material to be used for the sheets 2 and 5 and adhesive both for theouter face of the sheet 2 and the joining between the strut 4 and thesheet 5 is such that it will need to be compatible for use against theskin of humans. Hypoallergenic material is an appropriate material.

In use the element is located so that the bend is just below the hard(that is the bone) part of the nose and on one side of the nose and thesoft tissue is then manipulated out by hand usually by the user so as tobe adhered to the adhesive outer surface of the sheet 2. The strut canthereafter be changed in shape by finger pressure. The concept howeveris that this can then hold outwardly the soft tissue adjacent the narrowpart of the nasal passage and therefore both resist it being drawn inwhen greater air volume passes through but also for day to day use forthose with deformed nasal passage shapes or those suffering fromincidental blockage from rhinitis will also find value in thearrangement.

This concept therefore differs in some important ways from thatdisclosed in the U.S. Patent in that this concept is found not to be sovisually obvious because it does not go across the bridge of the nose.Further it seems to allow for more comfortable use and from experimentsconducted so far the results appear to be even more effective inproviding nasal clearance. This is believed to be the case because thestrip acts more in the manner of a splint and does not need to bedesigned to allow for continuous outward pressure or more correctlytension but rather simply to allow for holding of the flesh againstcontracting inwardly or at least against being pulled inwardly byreduced air pressure when air is breathed through the nasal passage.

The elements can be used for one side only of the nose if desired.

Now I refer to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 which illustrate the application of theinvention to a horse. This is an arrangement very similar to thatdescribed for the first embodiment in that element 11 is comprised ofthree layers where a first is a sheet 12 with an outermost contactadhesive at 13, a middle layer is a strut 14 comprised of 0.3 mmthickness 6 mm width and 90 mm length of aluminum, and the top sheet 15covers the other two layers. The strut 14 is bent in the middle at 16 tohave two ends 17 and 18 that are each approximately straight but whichare inclined 30 degrees one to the other as shown at 19.

The shape of the nasal passage of a horse 20 and the location of a hardpart (bone) 21 closely behind the open end of the nostril has meant thatthe concept works very well also for horses. Accordingly, as shown, theelement 11 is attached to be in line along the elongate direction of ahorses head 22 and is placed in position by opening the nostril passageout to then be held in the position shown with the strut acting in themanner of a splint to hold against retraction of the flesh.

The same arrangement is used for both sides of the horses head. Inpractice the arrangement gives very good results for these animals andit is believed that accordingly other animals that need to have enhancedperformances such as dogs and sometimes camels may also be advantaged.

The results achieved from trials conducted so far have been outstanding.The strips when in place on a human as described have been able to beworn with great comfort over many days without concern. Further, theirlocation has been appropriate to enable substantial disguise of thestrips when in place. Perhaps even more exciting has been that themedical results have been substantial so that there have been oncontrolled tests substantial improvement in breathing efficiencies ascompared to the strips when used that bridge the nose.

What is claimed is:
 1. A nasal dilator for resisting the tendency of thevestibule and the ostium internum of the nose of a mammal to draw induring breathing, the vestibule and the ostium internum comprising asoft fleshy portion adjacent a distal end of the nose, the nose having arigid fleshy portion adjacent the soft fleshy portion, said dilatorcomprising: an elongated, deformable strut having opposite ends andbeing bent at an angle forming an apex, the apex being located generallycentrally of its ends to form a generally convex shape, the strutgenerally maintaining its convex shape when in use; and adhesivematerial on the convex side of said strut, said adhesive material beingadapted to be removably secured to the external skin of the nose; saiddilator being shaped and configured to lie along and be adhered to onlyone side of the nose of the mammal while generally retaining its convexshape, one end of said dilator for adhering to the soft fleshy portionof the nose, the other end for adhering at a distance from the vestibuleon the rigid fleshy portion to thereby maintain the vestibule and theostium internum of the nose in an outwardly dilated position and tothereby resist a tendency of the nasal passage to constrict duringbreathing.
 2. The dilator according to claim 1, wherein said strutcomprises: a first sheet of material having an outermost face and havingthereon said adhesive material; and a strip attached to a back side ofsaid first sheet and adapted to maintain a selected shape of said strutto effect a maintenance of a selected position of the soft fleshyportion of the nose.
 3. The dilator according to claim 1, wherein saidstrut is comprised of materials such that its shape is sufficientlydeformable to enable manual change of shape.
 4. The dilator according toclaim 1, wherein the angle of said strut ranges between about 30 andabout 60 degrees.
 5. The dilator according to claim 1, wherein saidstrut comprises aluminum.
 6. A nasal dilator for application to a nosehaving two sides, and having a soft fleshy portion and a rigid fleshyportion on each side, with the soft fleshy portion being adjacent to anostril and the rigid fleshy portion being adjacent to the base of thenose, the nasal dilator comprising: a deformable, elongated, generallyrigid member comprising a substantially convex surface bent at an angleforming an apex and an opposite substantially concave surface, saidsubstantially convex surface having an adhesive mounted thereon, saidgenerally rigid member being shaped and configured so that when placedon one side of the nose said generally rigid member extends from therigid fleshy portion to the soft fleshy portion adjacent the nostril,with the convex surface contacting the side of the nose, the apexresiding generally on the rigid fleshy portion above the soft fleshyportion, the member remaining its convex shape when in use.
 7. Thedilator according to claim 6, wherein said generally rigid member iscomprised of a laminate of a first sheet with an outer surface coated bysaid adhesive, a strut of deformable material, and a second sheetsecuring said strut to said first sheet.
 8. The dilator according toclaim 6, wherein said apex of said member has an angle ranging betweenabout 30 and about 60 degrees.
 9. The dilator according to claim 6,wherein said generally rigid member comprises aluminum.
 10. A nasaldilator for assisting breathing through a nose, the nose having twosides, each side having a soft fleshy portion adjacent the distal end ofthe nose and a rigid fleshy portion adjacent the proximal end of thenose, the nasal dilator comprising: an elongated, deformable, generallyrigid first member comprising a substantially convex shaped face bent atan angle and having an adhesive layer thereon, the substantially convexshaped face being shaped and configured to be adhered to a single sideof the nose, said generally rigid first member comprising: a first partconfigured to adhere to the side of the nose adjacent to the rigidfleshy portion of the nose; and a second part configured to adhere tothe soft fleshy portion of the nose to maintain the nostril in an opencondition during breathing.
 11. A kit comprising a plurality of dilatorsaccording to claim 10, said dilators being configured to individuallyadhere to each side of the nose.
 12. A method for resisting the tendencyof the vestibule and the ostium internum of the nose of a mammal to drawin during breathing, the method comprising: forming a nasal dilator ofan elongated, deformable strut having opposite ends and being bent at anangle forming an apex, the apex being located generally centrally of itsends to form a generally convex shape, with adhesive material on theconvex side of the strut; applying a said dilator to only one side ofthe nose with one end of the strut on skin overlying a bone comprisingsubstantially a rigid fleshy portion, the other end being applied oilthe vestibule and the ostium internum on the same side of the nose, theconvex apex of the dilator being generally positioned adjacent the rigidfleshy portion and above the vestibule and the ostium internum; andapplying a said dilator to only the other side of the nose with one endof the strut on skin overlying a bone comprising substantially a rigidfleshy portion, the other end being applied on the vestibule and theostium internum on the same side of the nose, and the convex apex of thedilator being generally positioned adjacent the rigid fleshy portion andabove the vestibule and the ostium internum; whereby the vestibule andthe ostium internum are maintained in the desired position to resist atendency of the nasal passage to constrict during breathing.